1964 Chevrolet Impala - Classic Undercover

Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep

By John Zamora

Lowrider, August 26, 2011

The mural work continues on this Chevrolet in the form of a huge family-themed mural spanning the entire underside. “The mural in the front is my family. It’s my dad, mom, and my son,” Jorge says beaming. Not one to hide his area affiliation, Solorio also needed a regional touch on this ride, to remind everyone who sees it where he is coming from. “I just put the ‘SD’ in there. I’m a big Padre and Charger fan,” he says with a smile. The Klique colors fly above the paint work as well, leaving little doubt as to the foundation of this lifelong Lowrider.

On the opposite end, the trunk has an attention to detail equal to, if not better than the front. Smooth custom quarter panels with a similar matching carbon fiber treatment house a four pump setup, powered by eight hidden batteries, all controlled through four switches. Underneath the trunk lid more carbon fiber can be found with a depiction of Chicano Park from Barrio Logan in San Diego, where Solorio grew up. “It’s done in a carbon fiber glass,” Jorge states. In our culture we’re starting to see a lot more carbon fiber, and Solorio has his own reasons for choosing the material. “Carbon fiber makes it lighter. Lots of people do metal, but need to use a stick to hold it up. I wanted it to be able to rest on the hinges,” he says. Paying homage to his neighborhood was a no-brainer for this enthusiast. “The murals all show the places I grew up in. Chicano Park has a bunch of murals on the bridges, and we do a big party once a year there. Everybody also kicks it there on the weekends,” Jorge states, with a voice full of pride. He wasn’t afraid to get even more specific and personal within the paintjob, either. “The trunk depicts where I was raised, including the house I grew up in. The street signs are the cross sections of where I lived. I just want to represent San Diego and the neighborhood I grew up in; the car is all about me.”

Underneath this ’64, custom fabricated A-arms and trailing arms mate with a chrome reinforced rear end out back. Remaining thorough in the build, any of the car’s parts that weren’t already painted, pinstriped, or flaked, were sent to Peter Tapia, from Orange County, who doused them with chrome.

“The whole car took me about three years to build,” says an exhausted Jorge. “It was a nice car to start with, but I wanted to add my own style. I went frame-off and wanted to make the car my own, and that’s why everything is brand new. People were surprised for me to bust out [with] that car!” While many of his peers may have been surprised, they undoubtedly couldn’t help but to be impressed by this build, a truly one-of-a-kind Chevy Impala.

We all know that customs are never finished, as there are always more things to do to stay ahead of the game. For now, however, Solorio wants to keep things simple for now. “A lot of people told me to add engraving; personally, I don’t like it. It’s just for points that I’m losing. I don’t want the car to look like a piñata; I cruise my car every weekend and drive it on the freeway!” With a car like this, who wouldn’t want to show it off in every way possible?